“I had no second thoughts,” he said of the waiting period. “This is a job that I’ve wanted and I’m very excited to be part of this team, and I’m anxious to help lead this team and move the port forward.”

Taylor’s hiring caps a seven-month national search to replace Paul Anderson, who resigned last December as CEO after less than two years in the post. Taylor will earn $320,000 a year.

He will take over as JaxPort completes a far-reaching strategic master plan, pursues a fix for the Mile Point navigation hazards in the St. Johns River ship channel, and coordinates with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a study for deepening the 40-foot channel to 47 feet.

“There will be a lot on his plate,” JaxPort board Chairman Joe York said.

The JaxPort board selected Taylor on June 17. But his hiring had been on hold while lawyers in the Jacksonville General Counsel’s Office and the Florida Commission on Ethics researched whether Taylor would face any conflicts because of a separation agreement with former employer Horizon Lines.

Taylor resigned last November from Horizon Lines and is receiving $370,000 a year in severance payments through the end of 2014.

The Florida Commission on Ethics unanimously approved an advisory opinion saying there would not be any conflict because the severance payments are locked in by contract, regardless of any actions Taylor would take as CEO in regulating Horizon’s activities at Blount Island.

“You don’t have a situation where this person would have to kowtow to his former employer,” said Christopher Anderson, general counsel and deputy executive director of the commission.

Anderson said Taylor can be “as objective as he needs to be.”

York said Taylor’s 30-year career has displayed the “skills and track record of walking into situations and making them substantially better. I think we’re going to see the impact here as well.”

Taylor, 54, said he intends to get up to speed as quickly as possible on JaxPort’s creation of a master plan and sound out JaxPort’s executives on their views.

“I’m joining a group of well-respected business professionals at JaxPort,” he said.

He said he also will meet in the first month with customers and constituents of the port about what JaxPort does well, what it could do better “and specifically those things they’d like us to do that we’re not doing.”

JaxPort’s search took longer than expected when Juan Kuryla, deputy director of the Miami port, withdrew in May after the board offered him the job. Roy Schleicher has served as interim CEO since December and also sought the permanent position.

“I don’t think we have missed a beat, and I will give that credit to Roy Schleicher and the leadership team,” York said.